Naruto: Depth of Darkness
by SuperGota
Summary: In a twist of fate, at the fountain of truth, "Naruto" is defeated by his darkness. The new Naruto takes control and one of Itachi's "gifts" sends him back in time to the moment he received it. As Yami emerges, the coming revolution morphs into something entirely different. The fight for the world's future just got more complicated.
1. Prologue

_I wanted to believe in them. I wanted to believe that I was valued. I wanted to believe that there was hope._

_But no matter what I tried, I was ignored for twelve years. _

_My loneliness was like an inescapable disease. I could never stop it. There were moments, yes, which I could feel wanted…but such moments left as soon as they came._

_To the world, I showed all that was good about me. I put on my happiest face and declared my dream. Was it because I wanted acknowledgement? Was it because I just wanted somebody to turn my way and smile genuinely? Or was it because, I wanted to rule them all, to make them realize the depth of their fault?_

_It doesn't matter now._

_Everything has been a lie. So many times have I seen their darkness, only to reach out towards the flicker of hope. The ones who did love me are long gone, killed by those that hate me. When will this nightmare end? _

_I saw all their happy faces when I saved them from destruction; the very same faces that held nothing but contempt for me when I was but a child. Is this real? Is it even worthwhile? Why should I sacrifice and fight so hard for what others can obtain easily after a single mission?_

_No, I'm sick of it all. Yet, there's nothing to do be done. Because…_

_I'm not the one in control. I've always been a tool. That's what a being a ninja means, after all. Everybody used me, and now that I'm a target, they hide me. All for the sake of their precious villages._

_And even now, I'm not in control of myself. This pathetic farce that calls itself "Naruto" is nothing but a figment of imagination. "He" is my hope that should have long ago disappeared. It is an entity that refuses to face the truth. This "Naruto" must be stopped. But how can I stop "him"?_

_I want to yell at "him", that everything has been a lie, that the world still hates us, and that we cannot forgive. I want to yell at "him", to tell him that was it not for his foolish clinging to hope, we would be so much stronger. I want to yell at "him", to make him understand, that hope means nothing, that hope is naught but resignation to our fates._

_But "he" cannot hear me. "He" will not hear me. "He" has not heard me, not for the past sixteen years. Because…_

_I am the darkness "he" hides deep within himself. _

_And all I can do…is to just keep watching…just until I take over…and destroy this false "Naruto" forever!

* * *

_

"_He" has come to the fountain of truth._

_Then let it be known, that here is the end of "Naruto Uzumaki". _

_Today, I will destroy "him"._

_My hatred will overwhelm his pathetic and foolish hope at last. How could I fail, when even the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox will be fighting on my side? How could this "Naruto", who is but resignation, stand up to the combined might of our hatred?_

"_He" shall not._

_Therefore,_

_Let this be the birth of the true Naruto Uzumaki._


	2. Emergence

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

"You did a pretty good job, there, _Faker."_

"Naruto" turned around to see…another him.

"Defeating the Nine-Tails and all…even getting to see _Mommy_," the second Naruto said in a sarcastic voice.

"What-what the hell! Who are you?"

"Have you forgotten already? I'm your darkness, remember. We met a few moments ago, in that fountain of truth, or whatever you call it."

"Wha-but, I defeated you already! You disappeared!"

"Defeated me?" The dark Naruto began to laugh. "Haha…hahaha! HAHAHA! You think you defeated me? Don't be ridiculous. You can never defeat me. Didn't I tell you? I'm the _real_ you. Imposters can never win against the original."

"My faith in myself didn't work…?" "Naruto" muttered to himself.

Suddenly dark Naruto reappeared in front of him in an instant. "Enough talk, you pathetic failure!" He jammed a Sage-enhanced Rasengan into "Naruto"'s stomach. "Just die already!"

"Gu-urgh!"

"You thought that by telling me I should become you, and hugging me, you thought that would make me disappear? You're an idiot, like they say. Like I told you, my only mistake was letting that Kyuubi guy set his eyes on me, and letting thus letting myself be sealed off by the same damn seal of the Fourth. But it doesn't matter now, because thanks to you and your stupidity, you've absorbed me into your psyche completely, so now I can show up whenever I want," dark Naruto stepped on "Naruto"'s chest, and knelt down on one knee. "You're pathetic. How thick do you have to be, to still believe in Konoha, even after Mom just told you the truth, that Konoha used her as its weapon! And that bastard who dares call himself our father! He was a dumbass just like you, killing himself and forcing us to live this hell for some bullshit prophecy! Why should we save this world when everyone thinks we're less than trash?" He snarled and kicked "Naruto" in the face, causing his body to roll to the side.

"Damn it…I'll just have to defeat you again then!" "Naruto" claimed while forcing himself up.

"Then, allow me to destroy your foolish illusions! Witness the power that we could have wielded together! Feel the pain that I've endured!" dark Naruto screamed. A mass of dark chakra appeared around him. It grew rapidly, then suddenly enveloping everything. "I'll destroy you, imposter!"

"Naruto", exhausted from his earlier fight with Kyuubi, could only watch in horror as his self-proclaimed darkness created a gigantic rasengan made of swirling black and red chakra. He had to do something! But he was so tired, and—

"AHHH!UHG!" "Naruto" screamed as the giant rasengan tore into him, obliterating him completely. As the rasengan dispersed, the dark Naruto continued to glare at the empty space where "Naruto" had been, before slowly beginning to chuckle.

Suddenly Itachi Uchiha appeared in front of dark Naruto.

"Naruto-kun…this is truly disappointing. I had expected more from you…"

"You! What the hell do you want, and what did you do to me that time with your chakra?" dark Naruto demanded, shocked out of his momentary glee.

"A gift…to send you back in time," Itachi answered sadly.

Naruto's eyes widened. "What? How is that possible?"

"There is a forbidden Uchiha technique…that bridges reality and illusion…by forcibly activating it at the moment of your death using my chakra that I gave you, and mixing with the chaotic energy of the Kyuubi…reality could be cracked, and a hole in time created." Itachi sighed. "This was the last resort, if the other measure failed…but never did I expect you to die like this…"

Itachi reflected on his plan which he thought would almost certainly succeed. Had Sasuke decided to attack Konoha, he would have surely taken Itachi's eyes for power…and Naruto would battle him. In that moment when Naruto saw Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan again, Shisui's eye would appear from within Naruto cast a very _persuasive_ genjutsu on Sasuke. And if that had failed…Naruto was an Uzumaki and therefore possessed Senju blood, allowing him to cast Izanagi by sacrificing Shisui's eye. But this ludicrous turn of events…

"Oh? So what now?" Naruto smirked as he realized the implications of Itachi appearing right when "Naruto" had been destroyed.

"Unfortunately…I'll be forced to send you back in time along with my chakra in you, as I originally crafted this Jutsu to be a forced activation…" Itachi responded as he motioned forward with his hand.

Suddenly the world around them seemed to crumble and cracks appeared everywhere. Itachi disappeared and Naruto could see the outside world again, with Killer Bee. But they didn't seem to notice anything. Instead, this cracked world began shaking and a black hole appeared in Naruto's stomach.

"What the hell!"

Meanwhile, the fox in his cage had witnessed everything, and smirked. He had lost the battle, but had won the war. All the chakra he had used over the years to nurture Naruto's darkness had finally paid off. It was just a matter of time until he would have his freedom…

* * *

Naruto woke up in the middle of a forest. Suddenly a rush of memories hit him, seemingly of various places in the forest around him. They were the memories of the clones that he had made to search for Sasuke awhile back, that time when he met Itachi in the forest. He realized that he was truly back in time, and that the clones must've dispelled the instant he arrived in this world and eliminated the previous Naruto that was in that body.

He became alert in an instant and entered Kyuubi Chakra mode in order to sense all hateful or loving presences around him. It was faint…but he sensed…Itachi, along with Sasuke, who was like a beacon of hatred getting closer to Itachi.

He should probably go to Itachi, and see whether this Itachi knew of Naruto's trip in time. Thus, he moved with incredible speed characteristic of the Kyuubi Chakra mode, and reached Itachi in less than thirty seconds, bursting through the ceiling and landing in front of the Uchiha, who was sitting on a throne.

"…! Naruto-kun…?" Itachi said in a surprised voice.

"I-I'm sorry, Itachi-san…I failed…I couldn't save him…" Naruto said while looking down.

Itachi stared at him for a moment. "Then, you are from the future?"

"Yeah…I was killed by Sasuke in our final battle…" Naruto looked away for a moment.

Itachi closed his eyes for a moment. "Sasuke…" he whispered. Naruto, who was still in Kyuubi mode, sensed Itachi's intense love for Sasuke manifest strongly.

Suddenly, Itachi gasped in pain as he found Naruto's hand in his chest. "Wh-what is…the…meaning…of this?" He managed to get out, before Naruto ripped out his heart and crushed it while grinning evilly. "You let your guard down, Itachi…didn't you think even for a moment, that when I returned, it would not be the same me? Hahahaha….HAHAHAHA!" Naruto laughed as he looked at Itachi's dead face. Then his expression turned dark again as he turned off Kyuubi mode.

"I can't believe…you sacrificed so much for that pathetic village. Your clan did so much, founding the village, then becoming the military police, adding to the fame of the village with your sharingan…and yet, you chose to help the village slaughter your own clansmen! What's wrong with you? You're the one that told Sasuke that he needed hatred to become powerful! Yet I can still feel it…your love for Sasuke and the damn leaf village…even though you're already dead!"

Then he noticed the sharingan eyes. "Hm…I wonder, he did say he was forced to send me back along with his chakra…"

Naruto gouged out Itachi's eyes. He then gouged out his own eyes and placed Itachi's eyes into his empty eye sockets. Then he sent massive amounts of the Kyuubi's chakra into his eyes, causing it to heal quickly and assimilate the new eyes into the body. He now possessed Itachi's normal black eyes. Channeling chakra into the eyes again, he found that he could now see chakra. Channelling even more chakra into his eyes, he tried to activate the Mangekyou sharingan. However, nothing happened.

"So it seems I can use it as an Uchiha would, but how do I activate the Mangekyou? Hmm… I can feel Itachi's chakra running out." If it ran out completely, he would be unable to deactivate it, and it would likely become far more difficult to use. Then he crushed his previous eyes, deactivated his sharingan.

"Now…what to do…?" Naruto knew what he wanted. He was strong, but he wasn't strong enough to fulfill his goals yet. He would have to win against all of Konoha and her allies, as well as the Akatsuki, if he wanted to take revenge upon all those who had wronged him. But he was not foolish enough to believe that he stood a chance against such forces alone. It was questionable whether he could even defeat Nagato, given that he would have lost multiple times that battle if not for certain interventions, and he had no intention of forgiving and talking him down this time.

He needed to gain more skills, build up his power without his enemies interfering, and gather forces loyal to him and his new objectives. He glanced at Itachi's corpse thoughtfully. Taking out a scroll, he proceeded to seal the corpse in case it turned out useful. Through the hole he made dropping down, he jumped back to the roof of the Uchiha hideout and looked around at the forest. He needed to make his next move soon, or Sasuke would arrive at any moment.

Then he paused. Something important was happening. A critical event in the previous timeline took place during the mission to pursue Itachi…what was it?

Then he tensed as he realized it— _the death of the only person who had shown him nothing but kindness from the moment they met, the only one for whom he bore no hate and had no reason to hate._

Last time, he was told that Jiraiya had died when he returned from this mission. That meant, Jiraiya could be in Ame right now, fighting a losing battle against Pain. Ame was not too far from here. Maybe…

Naruto drew on the segregated Kyuubi chakra once more, and flashed away.

There were many people the old Naruto considered precious that dark Naruto hated. They were the liars who put on false faces. They supposedly accepted Naruto now, but they didn't always. It hurt just to think about them.

But the Pervy Sage was different. He had no obligations, no duty, to Naruto like the Hokage or Kakashi, but he helped him all the same. He was a powerful Sannin, and Naruto was just a weak little genin. But even so, he treated Naruto like his own son, and trained him when nobody else would. Maybe it was because Naruto's name happened to be the same as the one in his first book. Or maybe it was because Naruto was the son of his former student. Naruto didn't know why Jiraiya did what he did. But he did know that, of all the people he had met, Jiraiya was the only one who had never wronged him and didn't hesitate to help him, he was too good for this world. And despite knowing that Jiraiya would never approve of the way he was now, he didn't want his mentor to die.

He only hoped he wasn't too late.


	3. Awakening

When the Naruto running beside them suddenly popped, Konoha's Eight Man Squad was shocked.

Kiba and Hinata both noticed the simultaneous disappearance of all the Naruto clones in the forest. The squad stopped.

"Naruto! What's going on? What happened to him?" Sakura questioned with a worried face.

"All of his clones d-disappeared! I can't find him!" Hinata responded as she desperately searched with her eyes.

"I can still track his scent. Something's different about it though!" Kiba declared after sniffing around. "And it's moving away really fast!"

"Damn it! We have to go after him!" Sakura exclaimed as she stomped the ground with one foot.

"You're right," Yamato affirmed as he glanced at Kakashi who nodded back. "Kiba, can you take us to him?"

"Yeah! Follow me!" Kiba answered as he jumped away, and the rest of the team followed.

* * *

Sasuke stepped into the throne room of the hideout warily, watching the still shadows for any sign of ambush. Itachi's clone had told him to meet here, but he hadn't seen him yet. As he inched forward, he suddenly felt sick. His instincts tugged at him, like ants gnawing at his skin. The silence was suffocating.

Then he noticed something moving in the dark.

There was a glint of red on the ground. It was moving excruciatingly slow towards him.

It was blood. Fresh, thick, blood.

His sharingan eyes darted up and focused. There was a stone throne, splattered in red, with the glistening liquid dripping down its armrests. As if mesmerized, he stepped closer, not caring for the newly form red stains upon his sandals.

That was when the shadows flickered, and he saw it.

A small red clump with protruding stubs with edges looking like they had been ripped, lying at the center of the still spreading pool of blood.

A heart. With traces of Itachi's chakra left.

For several long minutes, he simply stared.

Then something hitched in his throat, and out came a muffled sound, almost like panting. And the panting turned to laughter. And the laughter grew as he threw his head back, cackling towards the heavens, tears of blood dripped down his face.

He didn't know if he was sad or happy. He only felt empty. All his life, the world — it was a joke. A horrendous joke. Everything he believed in was a lie. Everything he did was meaningless. Everything he had, he threw away. Everything he wanted, something took away.

When his laughter finally died down, he slowly turned his head back down. He crouched down to the pool of blood, and clutched the deflated red organ to his chest.

He screamed.

* * *

"Shit, this is bad, I don't think we can catch up like this, his scent is so far now," Kiba cursed as he came to a stop. The rest of the squad stopped as well, while Kakashi and Yamato contemplated their next move.

Without warning, an Akatsuki member wearing a swirling orange mask appeared standing atop a tree branch in front of the Eight—now Seven Man Squad.

"Woah! I didn't think I'd find a bunch of Leaf ninja way out here…And it's 8 on 1, not fair!" The man said while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"That cloak…he's an Akatsuki," Yamato observed.

"He's not in the files Kabuto gave us…" Kakashi added.

"Oh! That's because I'm new to the company. Nice to meet you!" The man explained while waving cheerily.

"Don't start acting cocky yet! We haven't even started!" Kiba yelled while waving his fist. Akamaru added a few barks for good measure. Hinata and Shino watched silently while Sakura cursed their misfortune in consistently being waylaid by something on every mission to find Sasuke.

"Don't make any sudden moves…Just observe for now, he's severely outnumbered and we've got the advantage," Kakashi ordered, knowing how dangerous a single Akatsuki member could be, and not wanting to lose any of his team. 'Too bad Naruto isn't here…we could use his clones in the initial attack' he thought to himself.

Then he decided, "Let's go with Formation D, since Naruto isn't here."

The rest of the squad voiced their agreement, and moved into position.

Suddenly the branch the masked Akatsuki member was standing on grew new appendages and constricted him. "Oh no! Tobi's been caught!" The man shouted in a panicked voice, then in a lower one, he added, "Not." To the squad, it appeared that the man simply phased through his bindings to stand beside them, free again.

"What? I had him just now! I definitely caught something solid!" Yamato exclaimed as he watched disbelievingly.

As the new Akatsuki member continued to play around, the Konoha team could only observe their attacks have no effect on him.

* * *

As Naruto arrived at the lake surrounding the Rain village, he slowed down. He noticed that despite the country's moniker, it was actually not raining at the moment. As he was still in the Kyuubi Chakra mode, he could feel Jiraiya and Pain's chakra in the village, so they were still fighting. Deciding not to break through the gates, he formed chakra wings on his back and started flying overhead towards the great skyscrapers that littered the city-village.

Even as he homed in to Jiraiya's chakra, he felt the pressure of indecision. Just what would he do when he arrived? He could potentially weave a tragic story of time-travelling to avoid a disastrous future — one where Sasuke had died and given his eyes to Naruto after during an apocalyptic Fourth World War. It might work, as the basic sharingan looked the same, as long as he suppressed Itachi's chakra. But what then? He had no intention of going back to the Leaf except to destroy it, but Jiraiya would obviously not let him do that.

'Why did I come here at all?' he wondered.

But the decision was taken out of his hands as he felt Jiraiya's chakra suddenly drop to almost nothing. 'NO!' He raged internally, cursing his inexperience at forming and using chakra wings.

Then he saw it.

His mentor and father-figure lay still, face down on the ground, stabbed through by several black chakra rods, and surrounded by five of the six paths of pain.

* * *

'My throat's completely caved in…' Jiraiya lamented as he struggled to speak — to do anything. As his consciousness faded, his life flashed before his eyes. 'Shit, am I…dying? Did I fail everyone?'

He remembered his long life, full of failure after failure, and how he wanted to die like the great Hokages — not like this. He thought of the prophecy, the student who would bring about a revolution, and his critical choice.

'Writing this story…it's all been a waste of time.' But then he remembered, how Minato —

"PERVY SAGE!" Naruto's desperate voice cut through his flashing memories. Stunned, Jiraiya realized he must be hallucinating already.

As the five paths of pain turned around from the high ledge leading to the pipes which they'd jump back to, they saw a streak of light touch down beside their former master. 'This is…what powerful chakra' Pain noticed as he observed and refocused on a potential continuation of the battle.

Naruto landed and pulled out all the chakra rods, before flipping him around and attempting to force chakra into Jiraiya's wounds. He knew not how to heal somebody else with his chakra, but he hoped that it would do something — anything, to stop his sensei's death.

"Please…you can't die, not again…!" He cried, as tears began to fall from his eyes, dropping onto Jiraiya's chest.

"Are you Jiraiya-chan's student, Naruto?" Fukasaku asked from Jiraiya's shoulder, shocked at this new development, though recognizing the connection of the Toad contract.

Jiraiya felt something warm cover his body, and he struggled to open his eyes. What he saw was a Naruto covered in golden light. He didn't know what was happening, or how Naruto got here, but he realized then, this was the moment of the true choice he had to make, for the world's savior was not that child who wielded the eyes of god, but this life-filled boy right in front of him.

He didn't want to leave the boy he had come to see as a grandson with such a painful memory of his end. He had to make up for all the things he should have done as his godfather, but never did.

Slowly, he gathered what chakra he still left and grabbed onto Naruto's hand with his remaining arm.

Naruto, whose body was trembling with anxiety, looked at Jiraiya's face, which was giving him a small, sad smile.

Then he felt Jiraiya imprint _something_ with his chakra, a pure feeling —

_I'm sorry—_

_I love you—_

_The son I never had—_

Then his beloved surrogate father slowly closed his eyes and let his arm drop lifelessly back to the ground. He didn't move again.

"Jiraiya-chan…" the old sage toad Fukasaku whispered as tears formed in his eyes too.

For a moment, Naruto stared silently, his golden shroud gaining a dark red tint, tears still streaming down his face.

Then those tears turned red, and pain bled into hate, as hollow eyes swirled into a black, three-bladed shuriken on a red background — the _**mangekyou sharingan**_.


	4. Into the Depths

Suigetsu and Kisame held their respective swords against each other, trying to overpower the other. Thus far it had been a fight of pure swordsmanship, with no ninjutsu. In this respect, there was no obvious gap in skill.

"Stop. Itachi is dead." Sasuke stated as he landed at the edge of the platform beside the two combatants locked in battle.

The two fighters jumped back, and looked at Sasuke.

"What? There's no way you defeated him that fast," Kisame snorted as he swung Samehada over his shoulder. But the copious amounts of blood on Sasuke's body left a wary look in his eyes.

Sasuke turned and gave Kisame a dark look. "It wasn't me. When I arrived, there was nothing left except this." Sasuke moved his hand, which had not visible from Kisame's perspective before he turned, forward, and drew everyone's attention to the bloody heart he held.

Kisame stared back with a disbelieving face and could only utter, "The fuck?"

Team Snake was equally flabbergasted.

Sasuke walked over to Juugo and held the organ toward him. "I need to know what happened. Can you track Itachi's scent with your animals?"

Juugo gulped before nodding and began his work, but inside he wanted nothing more than to forget what he just saw.

The group stayed silent as they waited. After a while, Juugo sent the birds away and spoke up. "It's in that direction. But the trail already covers a huge distance."

Kisame raised an eyebrow and muttered, "That's Rain country…" It also happened to be the Akatsuki headquarters.

Sasuke clenched his teeth. Nothing made sense. When he saw the crushed remains of two eyeballs at the scene, he had almost thought he recognized them. But the thought was ludicrous. How could his dead-last former teammate possibly kill Itachi, and in such a manner?

It couldn't be Naruto. But whoever did it must have been incredibly strong, to have killed Itachi in the time between Sasuke meeting Itachi's clone and Sasuke arriving at the throne room. Not to mention fast too, judging by how far they had gone. And for them to head for Rain country meant that it wasn't a bounty hunter, or Konoha ninja, as they would have gone to a bounty office in Fire country or back to the Leaf village respectively.

"We have to follow. Let's go," Sasuke decided before taking off, with Juugo following immediately, and Karin followed soon after as Sasuke's leaving knocked her of her stupor from seeing the absurd situation develop.

"W-Wait a minute! I'm not leaving without Samehada!" Suigetsu yelled as he jumped and waved Kubikiriboucho after them, realizing that his goal no longer required following Sasuke, with Itachi dead and his partner Kisame right beside him.

Kisame laughed, "You're pretty good with Kubikiriboucho, but you're nowhere near my level as a ninja yet, boy." Then he puffed into smoke when Suigetsu turned to retort.

Suigetsu's jaw dropped at Kisame's escape. Then he cursed and followed after the rest of Team Snake.

* * *

"Fukusaku, please take sensei's body somewhere safe," Naruto requested as he let go of the now still corpse and turned around to face the five paths of pain.

"Boy, you're not trying to fight those guys, are you? Jiraiya-chan wouldn't forgive me if I let you die here!" the old toad protested, failing to notice in the moment that the boy shouldn't have known his name.

"I'm sorry…I have to do this. They'll pay for killing the pervy sage," Naruto growled as he instinctually channeled chakra into his right eye, which began to bleed more heavily, before disappearing in a burst of speed.

The sudden blast of black flames hit Deva Path almost instantly, but were immediately dispersed by a quick use of Shinra Tensei. He was left with mere singes on his skin and half his cloak burned to ash.

Then the five pains reacted instantly as they noticed Naruto reappear above them with a massive spinning ball of chakra in his right hand even as multiple chakra arms continued the mold the monstrous concentration of energy—

"Big-Ball Rasenshuriken!" Naruto yelled as he launched the attack forward, which crossed the distance to the Pains in less than a second.

Despite the overwhelming speed of both Naruto's movement and his attack, Preta path reacted instantly and attempted to absorb the technique as it held both its hand up to the air, while the remaining paths began to leap away—

But suddenly the ground beneath Preta Path burst and from it emerged another Naruto behind Preta Path and tackled it down while grabbing its arms.

At the same time, the Rasenshuriken expanded rapidly until it was touching the back of the Naruto that held on to Preta Path, and its chakra destabilized as it prepared to explode.

As they witnessed the fast-paced battle, realizing the enormous power that the technique would release, which would have likely levelled an entire block of the city, both Pain and Fukusaku reacted; Fukusaku by grabbing Jiraiya's body and popping into smoke with it, while Deva Path used Shinra Tensei again — since Nagato's real self was puppeteering from within a building in Ame and therefore quite close to the battle, and Animal Path had been captured, it only took about three seconds for Deva to recover between each use.

However, Shinra Tensei merely redirected the force of the explosion and the result was a massive wave of energy that annihilated Preta Path and Naruto's clone while toppling several buildings behind them. As the structures collapsed, any chance of the battle remaining secret was gone, as residents panicked and Rain ninja swarmed in to the damage zone to find out what was happening. Only moments later, the angel of Rain would appear before the villagers to assure them all was well.

In the air, Naruto floated with his chakra wings, and taunted, "Pain! You and all of Amegakure will suffer for your crime!"

Deva Path looked him with dead eyes, and responded as he levitated himself up, "How convenient for the Nine-Tails to appear before me…your capture will pave the way to peace." Asura path also took action, growing a mechanized jet pack on its back and blasted upwards. Unfortunately for Pain, Human and Naraka Path could not fly, so they ran up nearby buildings to await a chance to act.

Naruto, fed up with Pain's talk of peace, gathered wind element chakra at the edge of his wings and flew directly.

Deva Path rapidly formed handseals while Asura Path flew in front of him, guarding the more powerful Path. As Naruto came within range, Asura Path transformed its arms into massive cannons and blasted their payload forward.

Naruto was forced to simply evade and streak past the two airborne Paths, but he quickly twisted around midair and with a single powerful flap of his wings, he launched hundreds of wind blades toward his targets.

But while they flew, it began to rain once more, as Deva Path had initiated the Rain Tiger at Will technique to create a more advantageous battle environment. He had stopped the rain earlier to reduce the continuous chakra consumption in anticipation for the battle with his former sensei, but now it would be better to keep it going. He knew that without the use of four of the six paths, he was unable to fight to his full potential. And fighting in Amegakure meant that he could not unleash the full power of Deva Path, lest he destroy his own village in the process. Since he could neither concentrate power into Deva Path, nor use all six Paths, it was necessary to resort to more conventional means, and use Yahiko's body's elemental affinity for water to turn the battle around. Fortunately, causing rain was actually easier than stopping it, as Amegakure was buffeted by endless rain — even though maintaining the chakra-laced rain did use his energy continuously.

Just before the wind blades reached Deva Path, a shield of water formed from the falling rain to block them. Behind Deva Path, Asura Path flew up and launched a huge swarm of homing missiles.

Naruto flew to evade again, but the missiles just chased him. He began racing in the opposite direction from the two Paths, as he did not want to try to survive by forming a chakra dome — he knew that would leave him open to a well-aimed Bansho Ten'in. Instead, he would try to create considerable distance before tanking the attack. However, as soon as Deva Path noticed this, he rapidly formed more hand seals, and uttered, "Water Release, Flooding Wave".

Water from both the lake beneath them and the rain in the air converged to form a gigantic wall of water blocking Naruto's path, threatening to submerge him in hundreds of thousands of tons of pressure.

Naruto responded by cutting upwards to try and fly over the wave that reached over ten stories high. With a motion of his hand, Deva Path directed the water to lash out at Naruto and move even higher.

'Damn! I'll be boxed in at this rate!' Naruto realized as the water warped overhead and around him, while the homing missiles continued to chase him from below. With no other choice, he doubled back towards the direction of the village.

The missiles continued to follow Naruto, but Naruto formed several chakra arms on his back to create a standard Rasenshuriken, which the arms then launched at the oncoming missiles. Behind him, a large section of the missiles were destroyed by the attack and caused a number of large explosions in the air, but Asura path fired another batch at him immediately.

Just as Naruto passed Deva Path and Asura Path he sensed the location of Naraka and Human, and turned to avoid them. However, anticipating this, Deva Path send a blast of Shinra Tensei in his way, forcing Naruto to fly closer to Naraka and Human path than he would have liked.

When he passed the first building in the city, he made a hard turn to try and lose some of the following missiles.

'What?' He wondered as he noticed his turn was a lot harder than he expected, almost like something was severely weighing him down.

Meanwhile, Asura Path and Deva Path had followed after Naruto, with Deva holding his hands in the _Jin_ seal.

'The rain! It's—' Naruto realized, but it was too late, as suddenly the King of Hell appeared on top of the building, releasing the Preta Path, which immediately jumped onto Naruto and began absorbing his chakra. Since the King of Hell can be made imperceptible except for when it takes in or releases a body, Naruto was unable to sense it until it had already arrived and released Preta Path.

Caught off guard, Naruto could only grapple with the Preta Path even as his chakra cloak was lost after mere seconds, and both of them plummeted down to the ground when the chakra wings disappeared.

Close behind him, the homing missiles finally reached their target, enveloping the grappling duo in an enormous chain of explosions the instant they hit the ground.

"Water Release: Heavy Rain Constriction," Deva Path's voice came from high above.

Quickly following up, he performed a series of hand signs, ending by clapping his hands together.

"Sealing Technique: Wicked Sea Burial" he finished.

All the rain in the vicinity converged towards the area of the explosion and congregated into a huge mass of water, with a vague tomb-like structure entrapping Naruto instead. At the edges, the water condensed as sealing script covered the tomb. It was unfortunate that Preta Path had to be destroyed again, but to Pain, it was a small sacrifice as he could easily revive him.

'What the hell is this? Was Pain really this strong…?' Naruto languished as he struggled to move and breathe before darkness overcame him.


	5. The Abyss Stares Back

"_And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." — Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche_

* * *

"Well that was interesting. Those were two intense battles," Zetsu remarked as the plant creature sprouted halfway up from the slippery ground. Grey, rippling eyes glanced at the newcomer before returning their attention to the glistening aqua prison before them. His utter indifference would have made a hilarious scene combined with his charred skin and torn robes if one knew not of the power he wielded. Behind the fearsome frame of the Deva Path, stood the hulking Asura Path with that ever frozen smile, as if gleefully taunting that he knew something you did not. Unlike Deva, Asura had discarded his robes entirely following the numerous mechanical transformations his body had undergone.

"_He was fighting Jiraiya of the Sannin, after all. Although, the jinchuuriki was far stronger than the last time we saw him fight...and where did he get the sharingan?," _the darker half of Zetsu's body responded, staring at newly captured specimen intently with that lone eye which appeared more like a hole than a sensory organ.

At some distance to their side, the King of Hell opened its disproportionately large jaws and out came the renewed Preta Path whose face was marred by a permanent scowl.

"If he had known our secrets, we might have lost. We can give him no higher praise than that…" Deva Path complimented his former teacher. With a flourish, he levitated the tomb of water in preparation for its transportation, and added, "It is not surprising that his new student proved to be a challenge himself."

"Really? You looked like you were in complete control there," White Zetsu observed.

"Of course. All of Rain is our domain. It is only natural for God to seal his fate," Deva answered as he began to float in the air with his spoils of war.

"_Damn! We probably missed Itachi's battle with Sasuke!"_ Black Zetsu cursed. He had been planning to go to the Uchihas immediately after Jiraiya and Pain's battle, but the sudden arrival of Naruto caught his attention. Then he cursed again, as he realized where he had seen those sharingan eyes before.

"Whaaat? Itachi's fighting right now?" White Zetsu asked, apparently surprised, trying and horribly failing at looking towards the dark half of his body.

* * *

_Pain—_

_Anger—_

_Despair—_

_Hate—_

Naruto sank to his knees and clutched at the ground beneath the murky sewer water that covered the sordid halls of his mind. He cried out in front of the ornate golden bars behind which lay the Nine-Tails, "Why…why does it hurt so much? How did this happen?" He punched the ground with one fist, creating ripples in the water that mutated the reflection of his angry visage and screamed, "Why is the world so cruel? WHY?" In the silence of the darkness, the cacophony of echoes reverberated like the hum of a distant avalanche.

The malevolent fox watched, and as if in parallel to that time when they had been trapped within Chibaku Tensei in the previous timeline, he urged, "**Destroy everything. Destroy everything that hurts you…Destroy this cruel world**."

"Yes…I should destroy it all…" Naruto muttered as he slowly moved his gaze toward the eyes of the Nine-Tails.

"**Give me your heart. I'll save you from the pain. You know I will, as I always have…**" The fox continued, using nearly the same words as last time yet again, but adding a little to recognize the unique relationship he had with Naruto's inner darkness for all these years.

"That's right…you've always been there for me, haven't you, fox? All these years you've been at my side, giving me chakra and helping me realize the truth…"Naruto admitted as he stood up and walked closer. "Without you, I could never have become as I am now, forever remaining that foolish child, to be used and hated by those pathetic humans pretending to be my comrades…"

"**I'll give you the power…I am the only one you can trust, for our hate is one and the same…**" the Nine-Tails growled, his eyes gleaming as he inched his head forward.

Naruto clutched his heart with his hand, closing his eyes, and clenched his teeth in an exaggeration of the pain he felt, and continued to speak, "I know…this abominable pain…the endless conflict…this worthless world of lies…all the scum who give us nothing but scorn…I'll destroy it all!"

"Help me…let's destroy everything wrong with the world!" Naruto implored his tenant as he opened his eyes and extended his arm forward, palms up, in a gesture of acceptance. Patterned eyes spun madly in the dim light.

Thoughts, possibilities, and memories raced through the mind of the primordial demon in an instant. With the surface personality of the previous timeline, he had only ever intended to gain his long-awaited, blessed _freedom_ and just eat the damn fool the instant he could feel the brush of the breeze on his fur.

For sixteen long years, the fox had nurtured the darkness in Naruto's heart in a bid to subtly influence him to tear off the seal during a moment of total despair. However, he had never expected that entity he had raised would actually succeed in a wild gambit to take over and destroy the surface personality.

During his long life, the Nine-Tails had often thought back to that time with his beloved father, the Sage of Six Paths, who told him and his siblings that one day a hero would arise who would bring peace to the lands — one would understand their hearts, love them as he did, and bring them back together.

He waited when the Sage died, and roamed the lands, doing nothing to antagonize anyone.

_The first human settlement he came upon fled in terror when they witnessed his mighty form._

He waited some more and roamed the lands again, hoping to understand what the Sage had loved.

_With every step, the earth quaked, and animals died, and all things living left him a very wide berth._

He waited even longer as the years passed, crushing all the puny weaklings who dared to attack him.

_No matter the era, humans fought, and the religion of Ninshuu died as quickly as it spread._

He waited as he looked for something – _anything _to do, and started fighting his siblings out of boredom.

_As chakra spread to all things, he felt in his soul the malice hidden in the depths of all those living._

He waited in his slumber, hoping to sleep away the nauseating hate and anger of all organisms.

_But he couldn't sleep — the endless angry voices tormented him even in his dreams._

He waited as he fought off armies of ninjutsu-wielding humans and learned to find peace in nature.

_But the peace couldn't last, for even children were told to fear the evil nine-tailed demon._

He waited with a weary heart, hatred seething underneath as his siblings were enslaved.

_He tore across the land, seeking vengeance for his kin, laying waste to all in his way._

He waited for the hero to arise and stop the madness and his pain.

_His chakra boiled with a crimson fury as the rage surrounded him like a haze of toxic miasma._

He waited—

_Forgot himself—_

_And found himself caged. _

He waited again for he had nothing else to do.

_Bu if-only-he-weren't-caught—_

He waited not for a hero, but for a chance to be free.

_He would destroy them all._

So it came to be that he was locked away and made into nothing more than weapon for the humans' meaningless wars.

He saw what happened to all his fellow siblings, and knew that the humans had inflicted fates just as bad or worse — weaponized, sealed, even brainwashed. And unlike himself, his siblings had been frequently sealed into inanimate objects, as if to torture them into insanity with isolation. That, unfortunately, seemed to be somewhat successful, judging by the state of Shukaku who had lost all reason. Or even Gyuki, who had been somehow subverted into acting as his jinchuuriki's plaything. The fool thought their relationship equal, when he was still sealed and his jailor called all the shots.

The being before him now was not the hero the Sage spoke of, and he would obviously bring no peace to the lands. But, there was no doubt in the fox's mind that dark Naruto understood him. How could he not, when it had been the Nine-Tails himself who had raised him and coaxed all his dark emotions? And the fox didn't want a hero anymore either, he just wanted it all to end.

If anyone was worthy of his help, if would be dark Naruto. It was time for the Nine-Tails to take matters into his own paws, and create the future that the Sage saw — one where the nine siblings would reunite with a new name, where they would know true power, and the world would scorn them no more.

"**Release me, and all your desires shall come true!**" The fox answered Naruto's plea. He reached out with his paw and touched Naruto's hand.

Naruto grinned and moved his other hand to his stomach, making a twisting motion. Suddenly the great cage began to disintegrate as sealing script extended out from the new hole in Naruto's stomach. The ground trembled with the noise of rumbling parts while the once-murky waters cleared. A pulsing force pushed outwards from the two beings, creating rippling waves in the now clear water.

'I'm sorry sensei, I don't deserve this name anymore. I can't carry on your dream. The only peace I can give to this worthless world is its end,' Naruto apologized mentally, before declaring with a great shout, "From this day forth, my name is Yami, for we shall return the world to the darkness of the beginning, and recreate it anew!" Then he paused, as he glanced at his fox partner curiously, as if struck by a sudden thought. "Do you have a name, fox? Other than Nine-Tails?"

The fox grinned back. "**Remember it well, for you are the second human to ever know this name. I am Kurama!**" He answered proudly.

Just then, a blinding light emerged from the center of their connected palms, as chakra flowed freely between the newly recognized accomplices, and the world was engulfed in a maelstrom of red, yellow, and black.

* * *

Suddenly the jinchuuriki's body glowed with an unholy light, and Yami opened his eyes. An enormous pressure built as his body vibrated, creating a storm of ripples through the coffin of water.

As the five paths of Pain saw this, they tensed up in preparation to respond. Deva Path clapped his palms together and narrowed his eyes as he increased the chakra to his technique to suppress the power of the person sealed within.

"Uh-oh…" White Zetsu said before quickly sinking back into the ground.

Then the light exploded forth and an overwhelming chakra presence appeared. The temporary prison was blasted apart and a searing heat emanated from within. In an instant, a hurricane of boiling red chakra spun, blowing everything away with the force of gale winds.

As the ground fractured in concentric circles from the epicenter, a colossal amount of chakra surged out, obliterating the nearby buildings before coalescing into a single titanic form that stood higher than the tallest skyscraper in the Rain village— the Nine-Tailed fox.

With a mighty roar as he turned his head upwards to the heavens, a huge mass of dark red chakra gathered into a dense sphere within his mouth even as the sheer air pressure and sound waves generated annihilated hundreds of meters of buildings in front of him. Unable to move away fast enough, Human, Naraka, and Preta Path had all been destroyed. Deva Path had managed to blast himself away from the damage zone with a quick use of repulsive force; Asura Path had also flown away with booster engine packs in both feet and on his back.

'What incredible power…so this is the Nine-Tails…' Nagato thought to himself as he decided to focus all his power into Deva Path, summoning Asura Path into his control chamber.

Meanwhile, Kurama had eaten the chakra ball he had created, before turning toward the center of the Rain village and unleashing a massive beam of destruction. Atop his head stood Yami, who watched in satisfaction in his new blazing black and red form. It had the same basic shape as his previous Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, but this new version lost the sealing lines. He now had a single pitch black circle at his stomach surrounded by nine detached magatama. In addition, there was also a new layer that formed an actual cloak over his whole body, which was red on the outside but black on the inside. Its bottom edge wasn't smooth like a normal cloak, but instead ended in nine long spikes. On the back of this cloak was a design that mirror the one on his stomach. In his mind, he already conceived of this new form as Kurama Mode, acknowledging the role that Kurama's newly shared chakra had in mixing with his own chakra and the portion he had taken permanently before at the Tailed Beast Temple.

In his control chamber, Nagato, who was encased in some sort of machine that aided his ability to channel chakra to his Pains, quickly pulled out his hands from the contraption and held them in front of him, palms forward. Seconds later, red light engulfed the room.

When the smoke cleared, Yami saw that all the area up to the tower where he had sensed Nagato had been reduced to a long crater, but the area behind it was fully intact. 'What stopped the attack?' he wondered as he scanned over the boundaries of the devastation.

A giant drill-beaked bird with Rinnegan eyes flew in the air, and standing on it was a youthful, red haired man with numerous black rods piercing his back — it was Nagato, except he was not emaciated as Yami remembered. Shortly thereafter, millions of white paper pieces gathered beside the giant bird and congregated to form a winged Konan.

Below them, in the untouched areas of the village, countless civilians scrambled over each other in a mad dash to evacuate, despite the best attempts of the Rain ninja to organize the effort.

"Nagato…you…" Konan started, as she realized Nagato must have used the Preta Path to absorb a tremendous amount of chakra and healed himself.

The newly healed seventh Path flexed his legs in curiosity. Although they responded easily enough, the motions felt awkward and clumsy. Over the years, he had forgotten how to use the crippled limbs, and it would take some time before he regained full mobility or re-mastered the art of combat using his own body instead of through proxies.

'What's going on? I couldn't have changed the timeline already, could I?' Yami's mind raced furiously, trying to understand why Nagato's appearance was so different from before. Unfortunately for Yami, he had no way of knowing the secrets of Preta Path's absorption ability, nor did he know yet of the fact that Nagato's main body could use all of the powers of the six paths. In another reality, another universe in the endless expanse of possibilities, Naruto would go on to witness this revitalization before his own eyes, over the course of the Fourth Shinobi World War, but that is a different tale to be told another time.

'_**That man…we must be careful, the strength of his chakra is comparable to my own…**_**'** A voice broke into Yami's mind. It was Kurama, silently communicating through their chakra link.

'_Are you saying that we could still lose like this?_' Yami responded immediately.

'_**Yes…more importantly, you are vulnerable right now. If our chakra link is cut, you will die from having released me from your body.'**_ The fox warned.

However, their mental conversation was cut short as they felt an enormous chakra build up in Nagato's body.

Shortly thereafter the massive force of the Shinra Tensei slammed into both tailed beast and former jinchuuriki, carrying enough power to actually send the fox flying.

'_Shit! Why the hell didn't you tell me sooner?' _Yami demanded. Feeling betrayed, he gripped onto Kurama's ethereal body with sticky chakra flowing through all four limbs.

'_**I have a plan…but your vengeance will have to wait' **_The fox crashed onto solid ground with a thunderous thud and slid over a hundred meters across the earth.

"Konan, help our ninja prepare a barrier over the village. This fight must not be allowed to damage our home any further," Nagato ordered his childhood friend, the Angel of Rain, before his bird summon flew away to pursue his target.

"…Understood," Konan responded to the empty air after Nagato had flown away. She worried that Nagato took the Nine-Tails too lightly, but she didn't show it on her face. Without his six Paths of Pain, her life-long friend was much more vulnerable than he had ever been — 'No', she told herself, suppressing her concerns, Nagato was her god and a god couldn't lose. Besides, Yahiko's spirit still watched over them, and one day they would finally have peace.


End file.
